A 32-year-old Chicago man has pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual assault and been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attacking a woman in a Northwest Side gangway more than two years ago, according to court documents. David Vega admitted to the assault, which happened in the early morning hours of May 28, 2024, near the 2900 block of North Mango Avenue in the Belmont Central section of Belmont Cragin.
According to ABC7 Chicago, police said Vega picked up the woman, forced her into a home's gangway, and took off her pants before ripping her undergarment and attempting to sexually assault her. Police also said Vega threatened to kill the woman if she kept yelling. Neighbors who heard the screaming called 911, and per court records reported by CWB Chicago, responding officers arrived around 4:15 a.m. and witnessed Vega on top of the victim before he fled down an alley.
Surveillance Video Led to an Arrest Days Later
Surveillance footage captured the suspect running down the alleyway behind homes and jumping over a perimeter fence, according to the seed story's facts. Chicago police released that video and photos of the shirtless suspect on June 10, 2024, and the public tip that followed helped investigators identify Vega, per Fox 32 Chicago's earlier reporting. He was charged three days later, on June 13, 2024, with two felony counts of criminal sexual assault involving force, as reported by WGN-TV.
Once Vega was in custody, the victim positively identified him as her attacker from a police photo lineup, according to prosecutors' court filings reported by the same CWB Chicago account. The case unfolded as a stranger-on-stranger attack, with no prior relationship between Vega and the woman established in the record.
Held Without Bail Under Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act
Cook County Judge Deidre Dyer granted the state's petition to deny Vega pretrial release during a June 15, 2024, detention hearing, per Fox 32 Chicago's report at the time. That meant Vega remained in custody from his arrest through his eventual guilty plea, under a system that replaced cash bail with detention hearings for violent offenses when Illinois abolished cash bail in September 2023 under the SAFE-T Act.
Court documents cited by Fox 32 Chicago also noted that Vega was serving probation for a prior domestic battery conviction at the time of the May 2024 attack. Probation terms generally require law-abiding behavior, and the new charge represented a violent sexual offense committed while Vega remained under court supervision.
Fourteen-Year Sentence Carries Steep Mandatory Requirements
Aggravated criminal sexual assault is classified as a Class X felony under Illinois criminal code, carrying a mandatory prison range of six to 30 years with no eligibility for probation, according to legal analysis from Tess, Arnquist & Wilt, LLC. Vega's 14-year sentence falls within that range, but Illinois' Truth in Sentencing Act sharply limits how much of it he can shave off through good conduct.
Because the law requires those convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault to serve at least 85 percent of their court-imposed sentence before becoming eligible for early release, Vega faces a minimum of roughly 11.9 years behind bars, according to calculations from the Law Office of Clyde Guilamo. He is also subject to lifetime sex offender registration, a requirement mandated for those classified as sexual predators under the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act.
The Belmont Central neighborhood where the attack took place falls within the jurisdiction of the Chicago Police Department's 25th (Grand Central) District, a residential section of the broader Belmont Cragin community area on the city's Northwest Side.
